Copied without permission from the Motoring News 5/5/94

To run or not to run ?  All of the drivers faced that terribly
difficult descision in the wake of Roland Ratzenberger's fatal
accident on Saturday afternoon as qualifying resumed.  For his
compatriots, it was perhaps tougher still.  Visibly very shaken,
Gerhard Berger eventually decided that he _would_ drive, and afterwards
was very candid as he explained how he came to make his choice.

"Most of you are going to ask whether it was right to continue to
drive.   Honestly, I saw the accident.  I saw it in repeat and I know
what happened.  I know how heavy it was, how bad it was for the driver.

"I knew before I went out that the situation was critical.  But without
even knowing, I could feel it myself.  It was the first time that I 
have found myself shaking after an accident.  I was sitting in the car,
I watched it on the monitor, and when they started to get him out of the
car, I could sse that it was going to be very bad.

"Of course, in our job you are sometimes a bit prepared to see situations
like this.  But as it was another Austrian driver, as it was a personal
contact to a person, it was even worse.  I know that it should not make a
difference between a driver that you know and a driver that you do not
know.  But it affects you in a different way.

"I went out from the car.  I felt sick.  I went to the motorhome and I was
shaking, all my body.  Then the difficult situation was coming, to say if
I was going to drive or not.

"I told myself that it was not whether I was going to drive now.  The
question was whether I would drive tomorrow [in the race] and in the
future, or if I was not going to drive at all.  It was not related to
this [Saturday] afternoon, it is related to whether you are prepared
top have this risk or not.  It was not going to make any difference to
Roland if I drove or not.  But I had to decide if I am prepared to
still take risks like this.

"Honestly, yesterday [Friday], when Barrichello went off, it gave me a
picture of how close sometimes we are between life and death.  I saw it
today.  I was really on the limit.

"But I said to myself, 'Do you want to race tomorrow or are you not going
to race ?'  And I said I _was_ going to race.

"From this moment on, I told myself to concentrate on the job in because
it was not going to make any difference to anybody.  It was a difficult
situation and it was _very_ hard."

The following day, Gerhard had to face the entire situation, all over again,
once more with a friend, when he saw Senna's pit accident and then the 
incident in the Ferrari pit.  One can but imagine the thoughts in his head
as he left the circuit on Sunday evening.


-- 
Andrew Henry           | Read the rec.autos.sport List of Frequently
A.H.Henry@bath.ac.uk   | Asked Questions v0.1 available by anonymous
University of Bath, UK | ftp at mgu.bath.ac.uk      _/Sempre  Gilles